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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2023
Opinions
“Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ”-
Henry W a i d Beeche r
Bringing joy to others
By Ronda Rich
As the length of my time has
stretched into many years, I real
ize the exceeding importance of
giving moments of kindness.
Take for instance, my friend,
Edward.
Edward is kind and well-man
nered. Every person who knows
Edward gushes with love and
stories of his thoughtfulness.
It occurred to me that Edward,
patron saint of good deeds, had
never had a big moment that be
longed solely to him, a moment
when all eyes were cast on him
as he bowed in the spotlight.
In my latest book, St. Simons
Island: A Stella Bankwell Mys
tery, Edward was the inspiration
for Stella’s best friend. Chatham
Balsam Colquitt IV is like Ed
ward but Chatty has a lot of old
money. Edward’s oldest mon
ey is no more than two or three
weeks old.
Like Edward, Chatty is a live
ly storyteller, entertaining with a
vast vocabulary and is steadfast
ly loyal to Stella. One reviewer
wrote, “Everyone would like to
have a best friend like Chatty.”
Overwhelmingly, the readers and
reviewers all agree: Chatty is
perfectly delightful.
We were preparing for the re
lease of the Stella Bankwell mys
tery. The launch was a luncheon
at the Cloister on Sea Island be
cause it, along with St. Simons,
plays a prominent role in the
book series.
Edward knew about Chatty. I
said, “Now, Edward, he’s over
the top. But so are you. Howev
er, he’s Presbyterian and you’re
Methodist.”
What Edward did not know and
what I wanted to be a surprise
was that I dedicated the book to
him. As Sea Island and I worked
on Stella’s unveiling, it occurred
to me that it was an opportunity
to give one of the biggest kind
nesses of my life’s worth. Ed
ward was an only child. Very few
family members remain. He has
never had a BIG moment. No
college graduation. No wedding.
No baby or baby shower. He had
never had his 15 minutes of be
ing adored.
Secretly, I began to plot. I’d
invite Edward’s dearest friends
- there are many - and tell them
that we were celebrating Ed
ward’s Chatty. Only a few trust
worthy friends knew that the
third page read: “This book is
dedicated to Edward Armstrong,
my personal Chatty .”
I called the lovely Mary Jane
at GJ Ford on St. Simons and
explained the surprise dedica
tion. She was selling books at
the Cloister and at the island’s
theater - which turned out to
be the first time in the theater’s
history that an author sold it out
- and I said, “Please, do not sell
this book before the luncheon on
the 9th,” I explained. Mary Jane
loves Edward, too.
When the books came in, she
hid them under boxes, also writ
ing, “Do not sell before launch.”
I called Righton, the other book
store.
Oh, but then the trouble started.
The devil, as you have probably
noticed, doesn’t like good things
to happen.
The release date was set for
August 8th. This is my ninth
book and I have never known
any bookseller to release before
the “drop” date. It’s a gentle
man’s agreement.
I accidentally discovered that
the publisher was shipping the
books out early and that Ama
zon planned to start shipping its
pre-orders.
If AT&T aggravations have
shortened my life by five years
then this upset took away another
five. I will die young.
Nine days before the big sur
prise, posts started popping up,
“Got my book today!”
I was frantically plugging ev
ery leak as fast as I could. I tried
to accept that Edward would nev
er have his 15 minutes of adora
tion.
I prayed. I knew that divine
intervention was my only hope.
For days, I fretted.
God answered.
The moment I stood on stage
and announced the dedication,
Edward’s mouth dropped open as
the entire room stood to give him
a three-minute ovation. While
they honored him, he cried, co
piously.
When time came to sign books,
Tink, laughingly noted, “Ed
ward’s signing line is longer than
yours!”
Nothing could have made me
happier.
Ronda Rich is the author of the
best-selling of St. Simons Island:
A Stella Bankwell Mvsten/. Visit
www.rondarich.com to sign up
for her free weekly newsletter.
Remembering John Donaldson
By Loran Smith
DARIEN - This town is a fo
cal point of the Georgia coast
where tradition and history are
as entrenched as marsh hen,
moss draped oaks and shrimp
boats.
Shrimp boats, which, unfortu
nately, are dwindling in number,
are tied up at the docks on the
Darien River, which is a ten-
mile-long tributary—something
of a centerpiece of the complex
of salt marshes linked to the
mouth of the Altamaha River.
It was here that Betty Foy
Sanders, wife of Georgia gov
ernor, Carl Sanders, painted a
shrimp boat scene that made
you want to arrange a trip out
into the coastal waters and see
a shrimper troll for wild Georgia
shrimp.
Have a beer with him and let
him sound forth with unabbrevi
ated conversation.
If you ask for wild shrimp
when you order shrimp for din
ner, anywhere, you are avoiding
shrimp shipped in from Asia,
shrimp that may have been
raised in less than favorable
conditions. It is a good idea to
do the same when you order
trout for dinner. If it is not wild,
you don’t want it.
I cannot take a respite here
without remembering the many
times when there was a fried
shrimp supper with the late
John Donaldson at Skipper’s
Fish Camp on the banks of the
Darien.
Beer and fried shrimp at sun
set in the environment that ex
ists here in the fall is one of the
many golden opportunities you
can enjoy in our state. There are
other restaurants on other river-
banks, even in McIntosh Coun
ty, but anytime you connect with
a waterfront, chances are that
you experience a cleansing of
soul. Makes you sleep well, too.
My friend John Donaldson
was an extraordinary outdoors-
man. He grew up in Jesup, a lit
tle more than 40 miles west of
here, fishing the Altamaha River
as soon as he was old enough to
hold a fishing pole.
Early on, he learned about
Shellman Bluff, twenty miles up
the coast and the fertile fishing
grounds there. Eventually, he
built a second home at Shell-
man Bluff. When he retired
from coaching, he maintained a
home in his hometown and one
at Shellman Bluff.
Born with a defective heart
valve, he was a health advocate.
You couldn’t have brought him
to puff a cigarette or swig a tum
bler of alcohol if you held a gun
on him.
When we went out into the
marsh and rivers of the intercos
tal, he would take a deep breath,
an intake of the salt air and ex
hale as if it were a ritual that
was as healthy as eating fruits
and vegetables. He believed that
it was. His instincts served him
well.
He lived fourscore and twelve
years and enjoyed every oppor
tunity to spend time outdoors.
As we enjoyed an evening at
Skipper’s recently, there were
constant flashbacks to times
spent in these parts with Don
aldson—the days when we filled
up two coolers of trout and spot
tail bass and those days when
we came home empty handed.
On those off days, which, for
tunately, weren’t very many,
he talked about being blessed
to be anchored in a healthy en
vironment. It made me recall a
day that started badly but ended
well. From my files, this is what
I wrote for print one October in
the past.
For (John Donaldson), the out
door life is the only life. You fish
and hunt for sport, preserve and
cook your bounty, let nature in
spire and calm your soul, strict
ly observing the honor code with
game laws and never violating
nature’s conservation dictums.
He painted an inspirational
recently which will remain un
forgettable. High tides and mud
dy waters were not the best time
to fish, but nothing ventured,
nothing gained moved him to try
his luck when conditions sug
gested, it was not likely to be a
productive outing.
“Let’s cast here a couple of
times along the beach here, ”
he said as if it was time to head
home after a half day of disap
pointment. “Water’s clearing up,
you never know. ” Soon he was
eagerly watching his line spin
ning off his reel, having hooked
something too big and strong for
his lightweight equipment.
A 25-pound spot tail bass had
taken his bait and only finesse
would bring his quarry home.
Only skill would succeed in
bringing in such a fish. Power
and force would lose the battle.
Tiring out his prey, with a velvet
touch, gained him the catch of
the year.
John Donaldson is not a
weed thy man when you talk
about silver and gold, but when
it comes to quality of life, John
believes he has greater trea
sure than the richest tycoon on
record. If he had the choice of
a Midas Touch in the business
world, or his world, he’d take
his outdoor lifestyle without a
second thought.
Rest in peace, my outdoor
friend.
Loran Smith is a UGA com
mentator and columnist for
Main street Newspapers.
The Barrow News-Journal
Winder, Barrow County, Ga.
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Opposed to TSPLOST
Dear Editor:
There have been multiple
scare tactics warning of in
creased property taxes if this
new never-ending tax is not
voted in.
They are not true.
It is NOT true that property
taxes will increase if you vote
NO.
It is NOT true that roads
will never be repaired if you
vote NO.
It is NOT true that our
roads will never be safer if
you vote NO.
What IS true is that once
this tax is voted in, it will nev
er go away.
Yes, a few people from out
side the county will contrib
ute to a new sales tax.
But everyone in Barrow
county will contribute also.
You are the people who
buy groceries and clothes and
gasoline in Barrow county.
YOU are the people who
will pay this new tax.
There is already money
allocated for road repair and
maintenance.
Let’s continue to use THAT
money for this work.
It might take a little longer
to get to some of the roads,
but you won’t be charged
more for it.
Sincerely,
Steve McDaniel
Family drama — Two
books not to miss
There are two books out
there that, though in markedly
different ways, deal with the
difficult and complex relation
ships between parents and their
teenage children.
If you haven’t read them,
and you have kids or grand-
kids in their teenage years, I
recommend these two novels,
although the second is in some
ways more difficult to read than
the first.
William Landay, who wrote
the extraordinary novel De
fending Jacob in 2012, is back
with another book that will
challenge your own pre-con-
ceived notions about how you
might act as a parent trapped
between what is right and what
is legal.
His first book, which was
made into a mini-series by Ap
ple TV, is an intense psycholog
ical drama about a young man
accused of murder that reveals
a complex conundrum for his
father, a former prosecutor, fac
ing questions about whether he
failed to investigate his son’s
case.
Having read it several years
ago, it stayed with me, not un
like Presumed Innocent, that
1987 page-turner from Scott
Turow.
If you read Defending Jacob
and liked it, wait till you pick
up Landay’s latest, entitled All
That Is Mine I Carry With Me,
where Landay again tackles
a familial issue that forces the
reader to make assumptions—
only to create new plot twists
that will challenge those as
sumptions. The curious title
will become crystal clear as
you read the book.
The story begins with a ten-
year-old girl, Miranda Larkin,
who comes home to find her
mother missing—and nothing
appears unusual in the house.
But the mother never comes
home—and the story takes off
like a NASA rocket and you’d
better hold on tight.
Suspicions about the father
begin to emerge and you will
find yourself dangling between
thinking he is guilty of some
thing and then thinking he is
being blamed unfairly.
Again, the emotional tides
that keep crashing into this
book are even more intense
than those in Defending Jacob.
I’m dancing around a spoil
er here—and I won’t give it
away—but you don’t see it
coming.
While we’re on the subject
of family drama, there’s anoth
er novel from last November
by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer
Finney Boylan that broke new
ground on the issue of complex
family relationships.
Called Mad Honey, the book
opens with this line from Ol
ivia, the book’s co-narrator:
“From the moment I knew I
was having a baby, I wanted it
to be a girl.”
Well, it turned out to be a
boy. Now, that is not a spoil
er—but it’s here that the story
begins to unfold, as each chap
ter rotates between two central
characters: Olivia, the mother
of a boy accused of murdering
his girlfriend and Lily, the teen
age girl who is the victim in the
story.
Picoult moves seamlessly
through the events and a plot
line told from different per
spectives at different times,
a literary device that Picoult
adroitly uses to keep the reader
guessing.
By about twenty pages into
the book, a teenage boy is ar
rested for the murder of his
girlfriend (don’t let that mun
dane-sounding storyline fool
you) and that’s as much as I
will write here about the story
itself.
Without a spoiler paragraph,
I will simply say that this book,
through the narration of its cen
tral characters, gathers serious
momentum as each chapter
takes a look at some tragic
events that shape both the flow
of the narrative and our own
emotional response.
If you’ve read Jodi Picoult
(and I had not, until recently)
there are few more gifted writ
ers for brilliantly developing
characters (usually in a family
setting) that display many of
the emotional chaos that all of
us (if we are honest) have had
to deal with.
Try to think of something
that no parent should have to
deal with; and, well, it happens
in this book. The two families
in Picoult’s story have endured
major psychological traumas,
one from a single mom who
has escaped an abusive hus
band and another who has a
child that is caught between
two worlds, one that society
has created for her/him and one
that he/she has chosen.
Sound confusing? It’s only
confusing because I refuse to
give away Mad Honey’s ex
traordinary plot line, so I want
to prepare you for a deep dive
into an issue about kids (in this
story, teenagers) that most of us
will never have to face.
The co-author with Picoult
is Jennifer Finney Boylan, a
best-selling author of 13 books,
novels and short stories and a
professor at Barnard College.
My friend Jack, the world’s
greatest reader profiled last
summer in BraseltonTODAY
magazine, said the book was
compelling but that he would
not (necessarily) recommend it
for a book club selection.
Having read the book, I now
see what Jack means. But I
have to disagree with him on
this one, as I think Mad Honey
is exactly the kind of book we
need to be talking about as a
reading community. It forces us
to have those difficult conver
sations about marriage, parent
ing, societal norms and raising
our kids.
So now you’ve got two more
books you should strongly con
sider: William Landay’s All
That I Carry With Me Is Mine
and Jodi Picoult’s Mad Honey.
Both might make you a little
uncomfortable, but not nearly
uncomfortable enough to stop
reading.
David R. Altman’s second
book of poetry, Cold Remem
bered, was published earlier
this year by Finishing Line
Press. He is a member of the
Academy of American Poets
and the National Book Crit
ics Circle. Altman is a former
Georgia Author of the Year
nominee and lives in Hoschton
with his wife Lisa. He can be
reached at altmandavidr@
gmail.com